Insulate the garage walls - or not?

$70 an outlet, got dang.

 

Add a half hot (to a light switch) in your master vanity underneath. Then you can run a led strip and a Lutron occupancy sensor, it'll light up when you walk in the bathroom. Super nice in the middle of the night. It'll only cost you a portion of what the builder will charge for under cabinet lighting. You can use the other part if the outlet to connect your electric toothbrush, then it's not sitting on the counter. That's what I did also.

 

INSULATE now instead of worrying about it later.

I just moved all my tools from my detached garage to my attached garage for this reason. That uninsulated detached was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Attached insulated garage (with insulated door) while not perfectly workable at all temps is much more comfortable.

 

For just insulating the walls I would do it yourself as long as you have the cash to do it right away. You’ll 100% end up wanting it insulated. In Michigan winters without insulation in the garage walls the water from snow melting off the vehicles would freeze on the floor overnight, but does not now that we’ve insulated it. I did ours myself, but that was the easy part. I would be more concerned about whether you plan to run more wiring/outlets after the fact and what comes after insulation.

We built ours a few years ago and if I could do it all over again, I would have had the builder finish down to sanded mud, all of the walls they’re required to finish to meet code. Then I would have insulted and put up OSB on the remaining walls and let it be. We did drywall and paint ourselves and because I’m no good at mudding/sanding it looks like a bag of ass. Painted OSB would look and function much better.

Also, definitely run 20A wiring in the garage. If the wife doesn’t understand it, tell her that she won’t be able to run more than 1 crockpot in the garage at a time for parties and she’ll make the decision for you haha.

 

Should you insulate the garage?
Absolutely. That should never be a question.

Should you pay the builder to do it?
Absolutely not.

At least 99% of the time builders use the cheapest materials they can find and charge as much as they can get away with.

I would compare the price of the builder doing it vs. you doing it yourself.

If you do it yourself chances are you will save a boat load but also get much better quality insulation.


In addition I would plan on blowing in about 12-18” of insulation in any open attic space above the garage. It really helps with temp control. Just doing the walls only goes so far.

 

I agree and would like to add one note for the OP.

If you need insulation in the garage ceiling and plan to hire someone else to do it eventually (not doing that part yourself), I would have the contractor do that when the rest of the house is done. Materials are not too pricey unless you’re going fiberglass, but to have a crew show up after the fact they will charge you a minimum just to show up with the machine and then labor on top of that. Atleast what’s what we found out in our area.

 

If it's cold where you are and you work out there through the cold months, get it insulated, get the insulated garage doors and have them install at least a 240v outlet for a ceiling heater and don't let them just install 1 bulb fixture in the ceiling. Make sure you get some say in how the lighting in the garage is going to go.

 

Also, put a drain in the garage floor. Then you can squeegee all the water that comes off you car's right to it. We gets lots of snow, so it turns into a lot of water.

 

I did the walls but not the attic space. In the long hot So Cal summers my garage does not get near as hot but it works both ways. Now unless I open the garage door it stays too warm all night. I added a solar gable fan to help blow in cooler air from down low and have a portable AC that really helps.

I had an electrician buddy help me run 20 amp plugs, LED lights and two 240V outlets on a separate breaker box years ago. Best thing I could have done. I ran the conduit, installed the boxes, pulled the wires and he came and hooked it all up.

 

I'm going to turn this into a build page, cause why not? The house will have an insulated garage, yeah! Here's the videos I've made so far.